Montecristi Chocolate, couverture 63%

wattwurmnashi & Montecristi Chocolate from Ecuador have been following each other over various social media for some time. & the other day when wattwurmnashi belabored the sad fact that she couldn’t get her hands on Montecristi Chocolate while residing in Japan, chocolate expert-cum-socialite-cum-Montecristi Chocolate co-founder Susana Cárdenas went out of her way to get her bean to bar couvertures to wattwurmnashi! All the way from Ecuador to Japan! Beat that for customer service.

Montecristi Chocolate wisely follow a different approach than most shrooming bean to bar makers, opting to produce couvertures rather than bars, confectionery & the like. The current market has seen a surge in the number of makers focusing on the latter but as for couverture it’s still the same old story so there should be lots of potential for Montecristi Chocolate.

Not only do they seem to have their business heads screwed on, they are also a fiercely local enterprise, sourcing exclusively from & producing in Manabí of their native Ecuador. All their products are made from organically farmed Arriba nacional, a local cacao variety that has garnered lots of attention in recent years.

Currently, their range covers 3 couvertures of different cacao percentages, 63%, 70%, 85% as well as cacao nibs. The 63% couverture has a sweet, caramelly start but quickly becomes more complex & bitter with notes of licorice, blackberry & finally blackcurrant. The melt releases surprisingly slow for a 63%. Fresh & fruity lengths in the aftertaste. The flavor profile is very bold & clear, wattwurmnashi can see how this would work well in pastry.

Besides the standalone merits from its inherently tantalizing flavor this 63% couverture doesn’t taste like any other currently on the market so it should be of high interest to chocolatiers, pastry chefs, … looking for the special something, to distinguish themselves from the competition.

As the sample size is too small to experiment in the kitchen, the following have not been tried & seen for myself but from the pure chocolate tasting wattwurmnashi would especially recommend using this 63% couverture for:

chocolate drinks

pear pairings [e. g. Tarte Bourdaloue]

mousse au chocolat

wattwurmnashi would love to see Montecristi Chocolate used more by the sweet scene & can’t wait to taste desserts made accordingly! Pastry & chocolate pros you really should give it a try!

Disclosure:wattwurmnashi received this couverture as a free sample from Montecristi Chocolate but wasn’t told to write a blog post, let alone what to write.